IMPACT! Wrestling Review - June 30, 2022

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Trey Miguel def. Chris Bey, Laredo Kid and Steve Maclin in an Impact X-Division Championship No. 1 Contender's Four-Way Match

These are four of the very best in the X-Division, though I don't really look at Maclin as being an X-Division guy (despite him contending for the championship a time or two late last year/earlier this year). It was the usual enjoyable opener from the X-Division, even though nothing they did stood out in a meaningful way and it will likely be forgotten a week from now. Although I could have done without Bey being the one who got pinned, Miguel was a logical winner as he beat Mike Bailey before Bailey became Impact X-Division Champion at Slammiversary, so this gives Bailey a chance to avenge that loss.

Gisele Shaw def. Impact Knockouts Tag Team Champion Rosemary

Shaw is looking for a new tag team partner after things didn't work out with Alisha, so she was trying to impress The Influence who were sitting in on commentary for this. I have yet to see anything special from Shaw in the ring, but this was a decent enough match with a logical outcome to set up Tenille Dashwood and Shaw vs. Rosemary and Taya Valkyrie for the Impact Knockouts Tag Team Championship while Madison Rayne recovers from her broken nose.

Impact Knockouts World Champion Jordynne Grace def. Savannah Evans (Non-Title)

Grace is set to defend her Impact Knockouts World Championship against former champ (and Evans' tag team partner) Tasha Steelz at Against All Odds, so it was logical for Grace to beat Evans here. Unfortunately, I feel like Evans has lost quite a bit over the last year since arriving in IMPACT, so this didn't really mean much. This was an average outing that allowed Grace to maintain momentum ahead of her title defense.

Impact World Tag Team Champions The Good Brothers def. Honor No More (Vincent and PCO)

The Impact World Tag Team Championship being on the line for this match was somewhat random since I didn't buy into the possibility of Good Brothers losing the belts already. I wouldn't have had Honor No More lose (the 50/50 booking with them is annoying), but I understand other members of Honor No More won last week's main event, so whatever. It was a quality contest designed to set up what we got afterward with Heath returning and Chris Harris stepping up to team with Storm and Good Brothers at Against All Odds. I wonder if that means The Briscoes are done with IMPACT or if they'll be back after Mark Briscoe has had some time to be home with his newborn.

Ace Austin def. Alex Zayne

Both of these men were involved in the Ultimate X match for the Impact X-Division Championship at Slammiversary. It doesn't look like Austin is too concerned with getting his belt back right now, so maybe they're holding off on Austin vs. Bailey until a later date. Instead, he and Bey will battle The Motor City Machines at Against All Odds. Is it random? Sure, but it sounds fun as hell. This was also very good stuff with both guys getting to showcase their skills before Austin picked up the rebound victory.

Chris Sabin def. Frankie Kazarian

This was billed as the "Battle of the Futures" nearly 20 years ago and when they attempted to run it back a few weeks ago, their contest was crashed by Honor No More. I appreciate that they went back to it and gave us a clean finish this time. As expected, this was a wonderful main event with plenty of excellent action and both guys delivering. They haven't missed a beat despite being around for so long. Kazarian's headed back to AEW after this, so Sabin winning made the most sense. This was a blast.

Overall Show

As I mentioned last week, IMPACT didn't have a ton of time to build to Against All Odds with Slammiversary being less than two weeks ago. I'm not sure why they scheduled it for this Friday, but I guess that's the way it works out sometimes. Nonetheless, I commend them for putting together what looks like a solid card on paper on such short notice. I don't think this edition of IMPACT! Wrestling added to my excitement for that event at all, but as a go-home show, it served its purpose and was an efficient episode headlined by a great match that's worth seeking out.

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